The School Health Programme in Behera: an integrated helminth control programme at Governorate level in Egypt

Abstract

School Health Programmes offer the opportunity to deliver public health interventions to a great number of beneficiaries at a relatively low cost and are seen with growing interest by policy makers in developing countries and the donors' communities. In Egypt a pilot School Health Programme has been implemented for the past 6 years in Behera, the largest and most populous Governorate of the Nile Delta. The Programme integrated additional activities for the control of soil-transmitted helminthiasis, human fascioliasis and anaemia in the National Schistosomiasis Control Programme (NSCP), implemented in Egypt since 1988 by the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP). To facilitate planning and direct actions, a strong monitoring system was also developed, that generated useful information for the schistosomiasis control programme. The practical steps adopted to develop the programme are presented and discussed. Results from three rounds of monitoring (2000, 2001, 2002) are analysed and compared with baseline data conducted in 1996, together with the cost of each activity. On the basis of the experience gained by the Behera School Health Programme a number of operational recommendations are formulated.